After Hours
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. A deleted scene from "House Call". Dale's POV.


**Like the summary says, a deleted scene from _House Call_ from Dale's POV. I'm not entirely sure why I never included this part in the ****original story. Well, better late than never to share it!**

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Many expected that because of his age, Dale Horvath didn't see much. He knew his mechanics thought they could get away with murder in his garage but they quickly learned that not only did he see all but he also heard all. If they wanted to goof around, they could do it on their own time. He was paying them to work hard and give their customers the best service possible. He didn't care if they were the only auto garage in their small town. He wasn't going to let his mechanics act like idiots and expect them to still have a job afterwards.

He was tough but fair – or so he liked to think – and the group of mechanics he had working for him, they had been with him for years so he assumed they thought so, too.

He admitted he had always had a soft spot for Daryl Dixon. When he had the taken steps to open up the garage, his wife had thought him to be insane when Daryl had come to ask for a job and Dale gave him an interview. He was a Dixon after all and it was probably all a scam to rob him blind when he turned his back. The interview consisted of fixing his broken down RV in the back parking lot and when Daryl was able to do so quickly and efficiently, Dale had offered him a job on the spot. His first mechanic and he was a damn fine one. The best one he had and no matter who he hired after, that always remained true.

Daryl was quiet, always keeping to himself, and a damn hard worker. He never showed up to work late or hung over. He actually usually beat Dale to the garage in the mornings, sitting in his truck or astride his bike in the parking lot, waiting for the old man to get there to open up shop in the day. He took a few breaks a day, a few minutes each – never abusing the time – and Dale thought he smoked too much but even Dale knew that wasn't his place and Daryl was a grown man.

His wife wasn't the only one to doubt him hiring a Dixon. It seemed like quite a few people made it their business to give him their opinion on the matter, reminding him as to the sort of men his old man and older brother were before Dale just reminded them that Daryl wasn't Will or Merle Dixon and swiftly cutting them off before they could continue with their assumptions and opinions about a man they didn't know. No one knew Daryl. He was almost shy in a way, showing up to the garage and working eight hours before going back to his house in the woods and not making a peep. He lived a life of solitude and it was obvious he preferred it that way. Dale had invited him over for dinner a few times but he had learned that Daryl would never accept, the man always shaking his head and muttering something about how he wasn't dressed for dinner at the boss's house.

Dale knew Daryl was just a man who had gotten a bad last name and was trying to be something different; something better.

Daryl had asked to work late – wanting to finish the work on Andrea's car so the lawyer could pick it up in the morning – and Dale had tossed him the extra key and smiled, telling him he knew how to lock up when he was done. Being home for a half hour though, and just finished with his dinner, Dale realized that he had left the money in the safe that he was supposed to take to the bank tomorrow. He was always at the bank first thing in the morning, not a minute after they had opened for the day, and it was something Dale hated being late about.

He drove back to the garage and saw the lights were still on inside, Daryl's bike still out front. He walked to the door but just as his hand went to the handle, he heard a soft laughter – light and definitely female. Dale's brow furrowed. Did Daryl have a woman with him? Who could it be? Did Daryl even like women? He seemed to hate all people and Dale wondered what was going on in his garage after hours.

He silently opened the door to the front office and slipped into the dark room. Through the glass windows that overlooked the garage, he saw Daryl standing in one of the bays, the hood of Andrea's car popped open. And Daryl definitely wasn't alone. Beth Greene of all people stood with him. She was standing in front of the hood and Daryl was behind her, his arms stretched out alongside hers.

"I thought you wanted to learn, girl," he was saying.

Beth nodded and laughed again. "I do."

"Can't change an engine belt if you're havin' a gigglin' fit," he said but Dale could see that the man was struggling not to smile at her.

Beth looked at him and even with the distance between them, Dale could see the young woman's eyes seeming to practically sparkle as she looked up into Daryl's face.

"I know," she said, her smile still in place on her face. "But I guess I'm just depending on you to handle a few of the things when it comes to car maintenance."

"Can't depend on nobody," he told her.

"I can depend on you," she then said to him quietly, her eyes staring into his.

Daryl was quiet after that, staring at her, not saying anything, it clear the man wasn't sure what to say to that. Beth then leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. She whispered something to him but Dale couldn't hear though from the movement of her lips, he knew it was an _I love you_.

Dale had never considered himself the sort to spy on others – a peeping tom so to speak – but what he was seeing in front of him, how could he possibly look away? He knew what he was looking at and yet his brain couldn't seem to quite comprehend any of it. Daryl and Beth Greene were in his garage, acting like quite the couple with Beth whispering words of love to him? When had all of this happened? _How_ had it happened? He never would have thought Daryl and Beth even knew one another. They were so different. Daryl with his surly behavior and hermit lifestyle and Beth being like a ray of sunshine around the town, always having a smile or kind word for anyone who crossed her path.

Yet, Dale watched from the darkness and saw Daryl relaxed in a way the man rarely was and Beth was looking quite comfortable, nestled against his chest in his embrace, brushing her nose against his jaw line, whispering something else in his ear.

Daryl smirked at whatever it was and shook his head. "You're gonna get me fired."

"I am not. I swear," she laughed softly at that. "I just thought it might be… fun. You know I like when you get the grease all over me."

"You're a dirty girl, Greene," he said.

"Yes, I am," she nodded, her face solemn but her eyes still twinkling.

She moved her head forward then and she pressed her lips to his. Daryl didn't pull back like Dale thought he would. Beth turned in his arms and her own lifted to be around his neck. Daryl's arms bound strongly around her waist and she moaned softly as she was then pushed against the hood of the car, their mouths never parting.

Dale shook himself from his trance and quickly slipped into his back office, grabbing the money envelope from the drawer, and hurrying out again. He glanced one more time through the windows. This time, Daryl's hand was up beneath Beth's dress and she was moaning softly, her fingers grasping his hair, her eyes closed and Daryl watching her face intently. Dale could only imagine what he was doing to her underneath that dress and he left as quickly and quietly as he could, not wanting to watch anymore. He certainly wasn't that sort of person.

He was not the sort of man to stand for one of his mechanics having sex in the garage after hours. He wouldn't have thought any of his mechanics had the guts to even attempt to do that.

But there wasn't a single part of Dale that wanted to go back in there and stop them. Not if the one doing it was Daryl.

He didn't know what the hell was going on but he knew it was serious enough for Beth to tell him she loved him and for them to obviously be sneaking around to spend time together. Dale got into his car and drove away, not thinking of Daryl obviously having his hand up between Beth Greene's legs but Daryl being with Beth Greene at all.

He felt himself smiling. He liked the idea, he admitted to himself. It was a good image – the two of them together. Beth was sweet and good and kind and she was exactly the sort of person a man like Daryl Dixon needed in his life; the sort of person he deserved.

Maybe if he had her, the man would stop hating himself so damn much. Maybe the rest of the town would wise up and stop it as well and take note of a good, decent man when they saw one. Beth Greene obviously already had.

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


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